Andrea Yates and the Insanity Defense
             On June 20th, 2001, Andrea Yates, a 36-year-old mother of five, drowned all five of her children one at a time in the bathroom tub. She then calmly called 911 and then her husband telling him "It's time. I finally did it." When she was interviewed by police later that day she told them that the reason she had killed her children was because she had done a bad job as a mother and wanted to punish herself.
             Andrea had a history of metal illness and was treated for postpartum depression and psychosis after her fourth and fifth children. She had attempted to kill herself two years earlier and was taking two antidepressant medications at the time of the murders. She had previously been on several other antidepressants and the antipsychotic medication Haldol.
             Andrea was charged with two counts of capitol murder. The defense did not dispute that Yates had killed her children but rather they claimed that she was legally insane at the time of the killings. According to Texas state law the defense is required to show that the defendant is not only mentally ill but did not know that what they were doing was illegal or wrong at the time. The prosecution agreed that Andrea was mentally ill but argued that she knew what she was doing was wrong. They cited the fact that she confessed to planning the killing in advance to police and a psychologist, and that she immediately called 911 after the killings suggest premeditation and that she knew killing her children was wrong. The defense argued that Andrea knew killing her children was legally wrong but that she was so delusional that she thought she was saving them from Satan.
             The jury convicted Andrea of the two counts of capitol murder. In sentencing Andrea the Jury had to decide between life in prison or the death penalty. To impose the death penalty under Texas law, the jury had to decide unanimously that Yates was a futur...